As Julie indicated in the previous diary, pro-reformers outnumbered anti-reformers by 4 or 5 to 1 at Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) town hall style meeting on health care reform in Rutland. Throughout the event, a loud, small cadre of anti-reformers remained at the edge, occasionally annoying other participants. The video here focuses on them disproportionately, just because – c’mon – we’re all pretty curious, no?
This video probably could be about 3 minutes shorter, but it does have some key events and a few interviews of participants.
Things to watch for; the only time a police officer intervened, defusing a tense situation, the bizarre, angry denial that erupts when Sanders correctly informs a questioner that his taxes have gone down under Obama, and the Whitman’s Sampler of right wing issues championed by right wing protesters (we even hear creationism rearing its head in the final seconds).
For part 2, I’ll upload video from the Arlington event tomorrow. That event was also well attended, but did not include the half-hearted attempts at disruption that you see in this video. In fact, I daresay “pros” outnumbered “cons” at that event by something more like 8 or 9 to 1. As such, the Arlington video will be focused on elements of the content of the meeting.
It’s good to see that the supporters so overwhelmed the anti crowd at both events.
More interesting given that, judging from what arrived in my email over the last 10 days, the GOP & allies efforts at “anti” turnout were much more vigorous and sustained than the Dems & allies efforts at “pro” turnout.
It will also be interesting to see if the MSM continues to propagate the huge-crowds-of-angry-citizens meme. And I wonder if a faster response to the first few orchestrated disruptions could have derailed their plan. It seemed that the national organizations (DNC, OFA, DFA, MoveOn, etc) were a little slow to recognize how the disrupt/distract tactics were seriously threatening to derail the process.
by that I mean the people who were there not to be heard but to shout down everyone else, stood in a little phalanx in the back, surrounded on three sides by reform supporters, with their backs to the street.
They appeared to be genuinely surprised and perplexed that the crowd was not another conservative echo-chamber, and that their antics and bullying weren’t working… maybe even a little intimidated by the fact that so many of their neighbors don’t listen to Glenn Beck, and were willing to tell them to STFU in that nice but firm way Vermonters do that kind of thing.
I would agree that they were outnumbered five to one, and that’s only if you add the righties who were actually there to be heard. The tea-baggers weren’t more than 20-25 people, poor turnout given the constant harangue from Fox and rant and rave radio. Even their bullhorn bullshit was laughed off.
I’m processing some video (actually, the video is pretty bad, but the audio is decent) as soon as I can find my damn Firewire cord.